Hot Topics:

Year in Review: A camel wedding, shuttle flyover and a plot to murder Justin Bieber top odd news list

By Jason Gibbs / jgibbs@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
12/29/2012 09:18:47 AM MST

Click photo to enlarge

Jason McClure, owner of Landmark Mercantile, adjusts the tie of Clyde, a 7-year-old dromedary camel, moments before Clyde and his blushing bride Sarah, a 10-year-old dromedary camel, have their wedding rehearsal brunch. Sarah was dressed to the nines in her white veil and a gold cuff made of Velcro around her left leg. McClure will marry the couple on Valentine s Day at 10 a.m. at Landmark Mercantile in Mesquite.

LAS CRUCES — It seems there is never a lack of odd, unusual or unlikely events to keep jaws wagging over a morning cup of coffee in Doña Ana County, and 2012 delivered a wealth of weirdness.

Perhaps the biggest "gee whiz" moment of the year came in September, when Las Crucens gathered in streets, parks and schoolyards to watch the once-in-a-lifetime, low-and-slow final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour as it piggybacked its way across southern New Mexico skies. As the fifth and final spaceworthy member of NASA's shuttle fleet winged toward its final resting place in a California museum, people from as far away as Colorado flocked to San Augustine pass to witness the final flight and snap pictures.

July saw some folks keeping their eyes on the skies for an entirely different reason.

A swarm of bees attacked a tree-removal crew in the downtown Las Cruces area, sending a 52-year-old man to the hospital with "possibly hundreds" of stings. A second man, age 30, was also sent to the hospital with less-serious injuries, according to Las Cruces police. A third man with minor injuries was treated at the scene.

It wasn't killer bees, but a scheme to kill Justin Bieber that had locals buzzing in December.

Advertisement

Dana Martin, who was convicted of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Vermont in 2000 and was incarcerated at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility, hatched a plot to kidnap and murder Bieber. Martin said he was infatuated with Bieber and even had a tattoo of the young singer on his leg. No Biebers were harmed in the reporting of this story.

Love of another sort bloomed in February. Clyde and Sarah, two dromedaries, donned their wedding attire and tied the knot at Landmark Mercantile in Mesquite. When owner Jason McClure presided over the nuptials, buffalo, horses, pigs, goats, alpacas, peacocks, turkeys, chickens, dogs and cats all stood witness.

Las Crucens weren't feeling the love in August, when it was announced that The Whole Enchilada Fiesta would be without one enchilada this year - the big one. Roberto Estrada, Guinness Book of World Records holder of the record for the world's largest, three-layer, flat enchilada, said he would not be making the "big enchilada" at Meerscheidt Center in Las Cruces. Estrada said that the burner equipment that he had used for the past 31 years no longer met the state standards for safety and operation.

But August was good for Justin Laugherty. Along with a group of seven friends, Laugherty claimed a $1M Powerball drawing prize. While other prizes were snagged during the year, Laugherty had the distinction of holding the largest winning ticket in the region for 2012.

The city's Fourth of July parade left some feeling less than lucky when a Confederate flag was displayed on the grand-prize winning float in the city's Independence Day parade and garnered national attention. The Las Cruces Tea Party's parade float sparked a debate about the constitutional guarantee to freedom of expression and an outcry from the public about the propriety of their float.

The political season brought out pranksters who, in November, placed a lewd-but-clever campaign sign in a vacant Las Cruces lot. A red-white-and-blue, political-type sign seen for a few weeks by drivers on Missouri Avenue encouraged voters to elect "Richard Cox" to an unspecified state representative seat. The banner then declared the purported candidate's slogan: "Let The Dick Represent." There was no such candidate on the ballot and the sign was removed shortly after it appeared on the Sun-News website.

And, rounding out the year, someone vandalized the city'sutility payment dropbox over the Thanksgiving weekend. All customers who had dropped off their payments over the holiday had to write another check after the culprits tossed human feces into the payment box. The previous payments were all voided.

Online Editor Jason Gibbs may be reached at 541-5451. Follow him on Twitter @fjgwriter